Art of Attack in Chess

by Vladimir Vukovic

  For if 31 ... Re8+ 32 Kd7, then 32 ... Bb5#.

  Alekhine - Drewitt

  Portsmouth, 1923

  Sokolsky Opening

  1 Nf3 d5 2 b4 e6 3 Bb2 Nf6 4 a3 c5 5 bxc5 Bxc5 6 e3 0-0 7 c4 Nc6 8 d4 Bb6 9 Nbd2 Qe7 10 Bd3 Rd8 11 0-0 Bd7 12 Ne5! Be8 13 f4 Rac8 14 Rc1 Nd7 15 Nxc6 Rxc6 16 c5 Nxc5 17 dxc5 Bxc5 18 Rf3 Bxa3? 19 Rxc6 Bxc6

  20 Bxh7+!

  The beginning of a well-prepared combination involving two bishop sacrifices.

  20 ... Kxh7 21 Rh3+ Kg8 22 Bxg7 1-0

  If 22 ... Kxg7, then 23 Qg4+ and mate, while after 22 ... f6 23 Bh6 Kf7 24 Qh5+ Black’s king cannot extricate itself from the mating net.

  The pawns in the attack on the castled king

  These examples of destructive sacrifices have shown us a procedure for dealing with the opponent’s pawns, and now we shall examine the part played by the attacker’s pawns in the attack on the castled king. The part is a very varied one, reflecting, as it does, the rich possibilities inherent in the pawn’s movements. The pawns are, above all, the pieces which cost one the least to sacrifice in one’s efforts to weaken the enemy position; they are also excellent at harrying one’s opponent’s pieces as well as helping to support one’s own on focal-points or strong squares. In all these cases the positive characteristics of the pawn are to the fore. The other side to the use of pawns in an attack on the castled king is a logical consequence of their negative characteristics, namely their limited mobility and the impossibility of reversing their moves. The attacker’s pawn needs, on average, three moves before it can have a direct effect on the opposing castling area itself; also, the attacker cannot transfer it from one file to another at will, but only when opposing units are so placed as to come into its line of fire. Equally inconvenient is the other aspect of the pawn’s negative characteristics: in advancing, it weakens the squares which it leaves behind it, and if the attack does not succeed, serious positional weaknesses may become evident in the attacker’s position. The irreversibility of pawn moves may also lead to a general blockade, which in turn produces a rigid position and complicates the attack. However, the pawn still has one more positive characteristic which can on some occasions help the attacker: the promotion of the pawn into a piece on the opponent’s back rank may be the attacker’s last trump at the critical stage of an attack.

  Thus all the different aspects of the pawn’s special characteristics find their expression in an attack on the castled king, and the picture becomes still more varied when we fill in the spatial side of pawn operations in this kind of attack. Here is a brief summary of a pawn’s role in the attack on the castled king.

  1) The attacker’s pawn (with or without a sacrifice) forces the opponent to weaken his castled position.

  2) It serves to create combinative elements in attack (e.g. by deflecting or attracting the opponent’s pieces or opening up files).

  3) It forms part of an attacking formation (e.g. in the formation with a rook on h1 and a pawn on h4 or as a support to a piece on a focal-point).

  4) A particular example of such an attacking formation which should be mentioned is the pawn centre; as a rule, this serves either generally to confine the opponent or to provide the basis for an attack on the castled king.

  5) The pawn advances independently on the flank in order to drive an enemy piece away or to take control of a square. An advance of this kind is usually called a bayonet attack.

  6) Two or three attacking wing pawns advance against the opponent’s castled position in a frontal formation (a pawn avalanche or roller).

  7) The pawn moves up into the castling area as a straightforward attacking unit against the enemy king.

  8) The pawn advances into the castling area (with or without an attack on the king) in order to be promoted, after which it can carry on the attack in its new role.

  These various types of action are usually interrelated in practical play, and single moves often combine two or more such functions. Indeed, when the process is observed as a whole over the space of a few moves, the continuous transition from one type to another is virtually the rule, except in the case of point 4 (centre pawns). As an example of the kind of progressive changes which can take place in the role of a pawn attack let us look schematically at ‘the career of an h-pawn’, move by move.

  h3: the pawn advances and drives an opposing piece from g4. This could be termed a ‘little bayonet’ (cf. point 5);

  h4: it makes up a set formation in conjunction with a rook on h1 (point 3); this is followed by g4, and we have a frontal formation (point 6);

  h5: it threatens to open up the h-file by capturing an enemy pawn at g6 (potentially under point 2); Black therefore counters by blocking the position with ... g5, but as a result weakens the pawn structure in front of his king (point 1);

  h6: it acts as a support for an attack against the focal-point g7 (point 3);

  h7+: Black has warded off the threats on g7, but now the pawn turns to direct attack (point 7);

  h8Q: the pawn promotes to a queen and carries on the attack (point 8).

  Every chess player will admit that such a career on the part of an h-pawn is in no way exceptional but is, on the contrary, a typical illustration of the many-sidedness of a pawn’s role in an attack on the castled king.

  Examples have already been given of the aspects of a pawn’s activity listed under points 1-3 and 7-8, so we shall restrict ourselves in this chapter to a survey of those under points 4-6.

  The role of the pawn centre

  The centre pawns have the task of controlling important squares and preventing the opposing forces from using them. As a result the pawn centre is the main weapon in the struggle for an advantage in development and space. However, in addition to the general positional function of restricting the opponent, the pawn centre also acts as a basis for an attack on the castled king. Firstly, the overall restriction imposed on the opponent makes it difficult for him to deploy his pieces and so indirectly assists the attacker’s plans; in addition, each of the centre pawns directly controls the outer squares of the castled position. Thus, on e5, the e-pawn controls the important square f6, and on e6, the square f7; a similar control is exercised against the queenside castling position by the d-pawn (the squares c6 and c7).

  We have already seen a number of fine examples of the influence of a centre pawn in an attack on the castled king, and especially the part played by the pawn on e5 in the classic bishop sacrifice. In this section we shall examine the more general situation, where a central formation has the functions both of a restricting agent and also of a direct controller of squares in the castling area. From the profusion of practical examples of this kind we shall take one in which the attacker’s centre is particularly dynamic.

  Tarrasch - Alekhine

  Bad Pistyan, 1922

  Blumenfeld Counter-Gambit

  1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c4 c5 4 d5 b5 5 dxe6?

  Preparing to accept the gambit offered by Black with 4 ... b5. Nowadays it is well known that it is not worth accepting this gambit and that it is best to play 5 Bg5, in order to maintain the centre pawn at d5.

  5 ... fxe6 6 cxb5 d5

  Black’s great strength in the centre more than compensates for the minus pawn.

  7 e3 Bd6 8 Nc3 0-0 9 Be2 Bb7 10 b3 Nbd7 11 Bb2 Qe7 12 0-0 Rad8 13 Qc2 e5 14 Rfe1

  White has no satisfactory defence against the growing threat of ... e4 . If 14 e4, the strongest continuation is 14 ... d4 15 Bc4+ Kh8 16 Nd5 Bxd5 17 Bxd5 Nxd5 18 exd5, after which 18 ... e4 follows with even greater effect.

  14 ... e4

  Now both aspects of the influence exerted by Black’s pawn mass in the centre can be clearly seen: White is restricted, and at the same time the pawn on e4 deprives his knight of the square f3.

  15 Nd2 Ne5 16 Nd1

  A laborious defence; this knight has to cover f2, while the other goes to f1 to defend h2.

  16 ... Nfg4 17 Bxg4 Nxg4 18 Nf1 Qg5

  This move is aimed against the square g2; Black’s plan is t
o advance the d-pawn and open the long diagonal for the b7-bishop.

  19 h3 Nh6 20 Kh1 Nf5 21 Nh2

  21 ... d4!

  Black’s central mass makes another vigorous contribution to the attack. The d-pawn now advances to d3, where it controls White’s support square e2. If 22 exd4 e3, both 23 fxe3 and 23 Rg1 are answered by 23 ... Qg3!.

  22 Bc1 d3

  Still better is 22 ... Ng3+ 23 Kg1 d3, for then 24 Qc4+ can be met without loss of tempo by 24 ... Bd5.

  23 Qc4+ Kh8 24 Bb2 Ng3+ 25 Kg1 Bd5 26 Qa4 Ne2+ 27 Kh1 Rf7 28 Qa6 h5 29 b6 Ng3+ 30 Kg1 axb6 31 Qxb6 d2 32 Rf1 Nxf1 33 Nxf1 Be6 34 Kh1 Bxh3 35 gxh3 Rf3 36 Ng3 h4 37 Bf6 Qxf6 38 Nxe4 Rxh3+ 0-1

  It is an irony of fate that the person to experience the might of the centre in this game should have been Tarrasch, a great devotee of the centre and a noted exponent of central pawn strategy. Such drastic examples of an action by the whole central mass in the attack on the castled king will not be found in contemporary master practice. The technique of playing against the centre has been so perfected that one can no longer succeed by the single expedient of following the pattern of the game above. Masters no longer accept gambits like the Blumenfeld; on all occasions they examine the extent of the compensation or the possibility of play against the centre, either by counterattacking it with pawns, or by exerting a restraining pressure on it with their pieces. The central formations which occur nowadays in master chess are not as a rule so uncompromisingly lethal as this one, but instead tend to be critical and sensitive formations, which demand an extremely precise use of the pieces if they are not to become weak and collapse. As a result of this characteristic sensitivity of central formations in the games of present-day masters, the temporal aspect of such actions has also altered, and nowadays one rarely sees a full pawn centre being maintained for many moves; it usually appears as a transitory feature, a phase of the game which is immediately followed either by an attack on the castled king or some other action. The following game provides an illustration of this kind of temporary, flexible centre and of a rapidly developed attack on the castled king.

  Keres - Fine

  Ostend, 1937

  Queen’s Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch Defence

  1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 c5 5 cxd5 Nxd5

  5 ... exd5 would lead into the Tarrasch Defence proper. After the text move, the game develops along independent lines.

  6 e4 Nxc3 7 bxc3 cxd4 8 cxd4 Bb4+

  Black’s dark-squared bishop is exchanged in order to simplify the position further. Each exchange, as a rule, helps to diminish the power of the pawn centre and increases the significance of a queenside majority, which Black has here. Because of this, theory regards this position as approximately equal.

  9 Bd2 Bxd2+ 10 Qxd2 0-0 11 Bc4 Nd7?

  This move is considered weak by present-day theory. Better is 11 ... Nc6 12 0-0 b6 13 Rfd1 Bb7.

  12 0-0 b6 13 Rad1 Bb7 14 Rfe1 Rc8 15 Bb3 Nf6

  An attempt to put pressure on the centre and induce e5, after which Black can play ... Nd5. However, White can leave his pawn on e4 for the time being and first strengthen his position in readiness for an attack on the castled king. The weak side of 15 ... Nf6 stems precisely from the possibility of gaining a tempo by attacking the knight with e5; without this White would have no advantage. In the very line Black used here to simplify the position (moves 6-9) the exchange of the f6-knight, the piece exposed to attack by e4-e5, is an essential part of Black’s whole system; now, however, a knight appears again on f6 and with it the attacking motif e5.

  Even so, 15 ... Nf6 is not a mistake, for other moves are no better; the bad move bas already been made – 11 ... Nd7?. It is true that commentator Reinfeld mentions 15 ... Qf6 in his book on Keres, continuing with 16 e5 Qh6? 17 Qxh6 gxh6, according to the pattern of the game Reshevsky-Fine, Hastings 1937; in that game, however, Black’s knight was on c6 and his queen’s rook on d8, so that his simplifying manoeuvre was in order. In this position, though, White would continue 18 d5 exd5 19 Bxd5 Bxd5 20 Rxd5 Nc5 21 Rd6, and the pawn on h6 begins to totter, since 21 ... Kg7 or 21 ... Ne6 is answered by 22 Nh4 followed by Nf5.

  16 Qf4 Qc7 17 Qh4 Rfd8

  18 Re3?

  White’s pawn centre, which has now been standing on the board for a number of moves, provides a typical illustration of the sensitivity of such formations. The crisis has been mounting from move to move, and the question now is whether the time is ripe for e5 or whether the position still needs reinforcing. White cannot wait much longer, since Black has a strong card to play on the queenside, namely ... b5 and ... a5, etc. Keres decides on reinforcement and in doing so makes a mistake. Correct was 18 e5 immediately; reinforcement would perhaps also have worked, but in the shape of 18 Rd3.

  After 18 e5 there are two main ways open to Black (lines 3 and 4 below):

  1) 18 ... Bxf3? is bad due to 19 exf6 when the threat of 20 Qg5 wins a piece.

  2) 18 ... Ne8 is not good, e.g. 19 Ng5 h6 20 Nxe6 fxe6 21 Bxe6+ Kh7 22 d5 with a large advantage for White.

  3) 18 ... Nd5 19 Ng5 h6 20 Ne4 Nc3 (otherwise 21 Nd6) 21 Nxc3 (21 Nf6+ is probably insufficient in view of 21 ... Kh8) 21 ... Qxc3 22 Re3 Qb4 (if 22 ... Qc6, then 23 Rg3) 23 Rg3 Kh8 24 Qg4 (24 Bc2 is also good) 24 ... Qf8 25 h4 Rc7 26 f4 Rcd7 (alternatives are 26 ... g6 27 h5 and 26 ... Bd5 27 f5) 27 f5 exf5 28 Qxf5 Rxd4 29 Rxd4 Rxd4 30 e6 with advantage to White.

  4) 18 ... Nd7 19 Ng5 Nf8 20 Re3 h6 21 Nh3 and White has a promising attack.

  18 Rd3 may be even stronger than the move which we have just examined, for with his rook on d3 White threatens e5 immediately. Thus 18 ... b5 is answered by 19 e5 and if 19 ... Nd7, then 20 Ng5 Nf8 21 Nxh7 Nxh7 22 Rh3, while if 19 ... Nd5, then 20 Ng5 h6 21 Ne4 followed by Nd6. After 18 Rd3 Black would have to play 18 ... h6, in which case 19 e5 Nd5 20 Nd2 gives White the advantage.

  JN: In the 18 ... b5 line, Black can defend by 22 ... Be4! 23 Qxe4 Ng5, winning the exchange. Thus 21 Rg3 is a better attacking attempt, with an unclear position.

  All these continuations serve to illustrate my thesis on the critical nature of the full pawn centre; objectively, White’s success was quite possible, but one imprecise move (l8 Re3?) and everything has evaporated, as we shall see.

  18 ... b5! 19 Rde1

  Now 19 e5 is no longer a threat (because of the double attack after 19 ... Nd5 20 Ng5 h6) and so Black is able to make progress on the queenside.

  19 ... a5 20 a4 b4?

  While this is positionally attractive, it allows the initiative to slip out of Black’s hands, with the result that White comes back into the game with prospects which are worth a draw at least. Black should have played 20 ... bxa4 21 Bxa4 h6 when White’s attack would have petered out: 22 e5? (22 g4 does not work because of 22 ... Qf4, while if 22 h3 Black plays 22 ... Qc4 23 Bb3 Qb4) 22 ... Nd5 23 Re4 Ne7 24 Rg4 Bxf3 25 gxf3 Nf5 with advantage to Black.

  21 d5!

  The immediate 21 e5 was not good, but it becomes favourable when preceded by d5, for then the black knight’s access to the d5-square is blocked, while the e-file and the a2-g8 diagonal are opened up. An instructive way of using a flexible centre!

  21 ... exd5

  21 ... e5 will not do because of 22 Ng5 h6 (otherwise 23 Nxh7) 23 d6!.

  22 e5

  22 ... Nd7?

  A mistake, after which White’s initiative takes on new force. A draw could have been salvaged by 22 ... Ne4! 23 e6 fxe6 24 Rxe4 dxe4 25 Bxe6+! Kh8! 26 Ng5 h6 (26 ... g6 is weaker on account of 27 Bf7 h5 28 Bxg6 when White has an extremely promising attack) 27 Nf7+ Kh7 28 Ng5+ Kh8 29 Nf7+ with perpetual check. If, instead of 25 ... Kh8, Black plays 25 ... Kf8?, the situation turns in White’s favour, e.g. 26 Qxh7! Qc3 (if 26 ... Qf4, then 27 Nh4 is decisive, while 26 ... Ke7 is no use because of 27 Bxc8) 27 Qg8+ Ke7 28 Qf7+ Kd6 29 Bxc8 Bxc8 (if 29 ... exf3, then 30 Qe7+ is decisive; 29 ... Qxc8 fails against 30 Rd1+ Kc5 31 Rc1+, while if 29 ... Rxc8, then 30 Rd1+ Kc6 31 Qe6+ Kc5 32 Qd6+ and 33 Nd2+) 30 Rxe4!, when White has a decisive attack.

  Keres in his commentary continues 22 ... Ne4! 23 e6 fxe6 24
Rxe4 dxe4, but instead of going on with 25 Bxe6+!, he gives 25 Ng5?, which is weaker, since strangely enough the knight is better placed on f3 than g5 when Black’s king goes to f8. The critical line then is 25 ... Qc3! 26 Bxe6+ Kf8! 27 Qf4+ Ke7 28 Qf7+ Kd6 29 Qf4+, whereupon Black need not settle for a draw by perpetual check with 29 ... Ke7, for he has instead 29 ... Kc5! 30 Rc1 Kb6 31 Bxc8 e3! 32 Qxe3+ Qxe3 33 fxe3 Rxc8 34 Rxc8 Bxc8 and his b-pawn costs the knight its head. An interesting reversal, with Black’s king being saved by White’s weakness on the back rank!

  23 Ng5?!

  Keres did not notice the stronger move 23 Nd4! either during the game or in his commentary. Moving the knight to g5 keeps up the tempo of the attack but leads to no more than a skirmish on the focal-points h7 and f7, whereas moving it to d4, although less immediately forceful, opens up the more productive prospect of play against the focal-point g7, which is quite clearly the weakest point in Black’s castled position.

  After 23 Nd4! Black is virtually obliged to continue 23 ... Nf8 24 Bc2 Ng6 25 Bxg6 fxg6 when 26 Ne6 wins the exchange, leaving him with insufficient compensation in return. Black’s other continuations are weaker, e.g. 23 ... Nc5 (23 ... Nxe5? 24 Rxe5 Qxe5 does not work because of 25 Qxd8+) 24 Nf5 Ne4 (if 24 ... Nxb3?, White wins by 25 Qg5) 25 Rxe4 dxe4 26 Qg5 Kf8 (or 26 ... g6 27 e6 Bd5 28 Bxd5 followed by Ne7+ and Nxd5, etc) 27 Qxg7+ Ke8 28 e6 fxe6 29 Qg8+ Kd7 and 30 Qxe6#.

  JN: After 26 ... g6 27 e6, Black can unexpectedly turn the tables by 27 ... Qc3! 28 exf7+ Kh8, but white can improve just before: 27 Ne7+ Kh8 28 Qf6 wins.

  23 ... Nf8?

  The move which loses the game. Correct was 23 ... h6 after which there is some doubt whether White can win. Keres carries on from 23 ... h6 with, among other continuations, 24 e6 hxg5 25 exf7+ Kxf7 26 Re7+ Kg8 27 Qh5 (if 27 Qxg5 or 27 Qd4, Black plays 27 ... Qc3, while 27 Rxg7+ Kxg7 28 Qxg5+ is insufficient on account of 28 ... Kh8 when White has not got the time to play 29 Re7) 27 ... Qc3? after which White obtains the advantage by 28 Qf7+ and 29 R7e3. However, instead of 27 ... Qc3?, Black can play 27 ... Qf4!, and after 28 Rxd7 (alternatives are 28 g3 Qf5 and 28 Qg6 Qf6) 28 ... Rxd7 29 Re8+ Qf8! 30 Rxf8+ Kxf8 White not only cannot win but even has the worst of it. The analysis can admittedly be improved at the beginning, for 24 e6 can be replaced by 24 Nxf7 followed by 25 e6+, but it is no longer clear that White has the advantage. Finally, one might consider trying 24 f4 hxg5 25 Qxg5, but this loses its power after 25 ... Qb6 26 f5 Nf8, since Black can meet 27 f6 with 27 ... Ne6, threatening, in addition to the queen, 28 ... Rc3.